What Holds You Back?

John 4:28-29 says, “So the woman left her water pot, and went into the city and said to the men, “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?” This is such a cool chapter for so many reasons. One chapter earlier, we see Jesus talking to one of the Pharisees and telling him what salvation looks like. Then we see a huge transition in his ministry when he talks to this Samaritan woman.

When he talks to this woman, he is breaking so many social ideals; it’s not even funny. First of all, he, being a Jew, is talking to a Samaritan; the half-breeds. Next, he was talking to a Samaritan woman, which was even more prohibited in the social norms. Even worse than that was that he was talking to a Samaritan woman adulterer. This was unfathomable and we see this upon the return of his disciples who stood and watched in silence.

You have to understand this! It’s the same for us because comparatively we are the same as that Samaritan woman. In God’s eyes, all the good things we have ever done are considered filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). For God to come down and even talk to us would be considered completely outrageous. It would almost be the same as throwing a diamond into a pile of coals except multiply the contrast by infinity. He should have nothing to do with us, but despite all of His glory, He became flesh and died to spend the rest of everlasting with us.

I want you to note a specific element in the story. We see in verse twenty-eight that she left her water pot. This is something we can easily pass over because there is no big road sign saying “REREAD THIS! IT’S IMPORTANT!” in our Bible; or at least in mine. However, these few words are so significant to the intensity of the message. She understood that this man truly was the Christ, the Messiah, who would teach them all things about worship and communion with God. Because of her comprehension, she understood that she was unclean because of the previous comment Jesus made to her about her husbands. She knew she couldn’t live a life dedicated to God and still “sleep around.”

When she left her water pot, she did two things. First, she showed that her water wasn’t sufficient; she needed something more that only this man could offer. Jesus said in verses 13-14 that He had a source of water that would never let anyone who partakes in it thirst again. When she left her water pot, it symbolized that she was done trying to satisfy herself and that she was ready to run to the arms of Jesus for comfort and complete satisfaction. She stopped resisting and collapsed in the grasp of her Savior. Oh God, how I still continue to fight for my own satisfaction.

She also made the statement that she was going to leave her occupation completely for the sake of the Gospel. If we can imagine a little bit, we can probably guess that she was getting water for her family, just like all of the other women would do. However, we know that she doesn’t have a family, but only a man that she is living with. She was probably only getting water for the two of them to have. When she left the water pot, she symbolized that she was done with what she was doing and that she was going to break off the connections with the man living with her. He probably didn’t get a drink that day and in return left his spirit-filled prostitute.

So what does all of this mean? Does God call all of us to leave our occupation for the sake of Christ? We do see this often with the disciples when they left their nets and previous occupations to follow Jesus around Israel. However, we also see people like Zacchaeus who remained a tax collector but also got rid of all the sin in his life. He gave away half of everything he had and paid back four times the amount to those whom he had cheated (Luke 19:1-10). He made sure that there was no sin in his life that was keeping him away from the pursuit of Christ.

Maybe God is calling you to leave all you have and follow Him, or maybe He is just convicting you of sin in your life that is in the way of your ministry. I run into this almost every day of my life as I am reminded of sin in my life that is hindering my ministry and my relationship with God. Pray for me that I will be able to stand up for righteousness, and I will pray the same prayer for you.

Get rid of all that holds you back – Forsake All